Over the following days, Emberfire City visibly livened up.
Sevein's three commissions were like three baited hooks, drawing in adventurers scattered across neighboring towns. After all, tasks with such generous rewards and no quota limit were truly hard to come by.
The low-tier tasks had a low barrier to entry, so green novices and down-on-their-luck solo travelers scrambled to take them. Though the mid-tier scouting task was dangerous, the temptation of fifty gold coins was simply too great, leading several parties of Third-Tier and above to step into the Whispering Forest one after another.
As for the caravan escort commission, there was no shortage of takers either. Ever since trade opened with the Kingdom of Halen, more and more merchant caravans passed through, and every single one needed guards.
Inside the Adventurers' Guild hall, a crowd now routinely gathered before the quest board that had once stood quiet and deserted.
Harold was all smiles, grinning ear to ear. More commissions meant more adventurers; more adventurers meant higher guild cuts; and higher guild cuts meant life as guildmaster was getting better by the day.
As for Sevein, after staying in Emberfire City for nearly half a month, he had already gained a solid grasp of the city's basic landscape.
The power structure of Emberfire City was simple: Delvin, President of the Merchant Guild, managed money; Harold, Guildmaster of the Adventurers' Guild, managed people; and Thornt, Commander of the City Guard, managed public order and city defense. Each of the three held their own turf, minding their own business while keeping a watchful eye on one another.
The strongest individual fighters in the city were Harold, Thornt, and Garland. However, Garland was an outsider, so the locals viewed him with a mix of awe and wariness.
Sevein was in no hurry to meddle in the city's power dynamics; his focus remained on the trade route and the Whispering Forest.
In his spare time, Morris would take a stroll around the city, drinking tea and chatting with merchants, striking up conversations with adventurers, and recording every piece of news he gathered in a little notebook.
"Young master, there is a situation," Morris reported one evening as he flipped through his notebook.
"Several low-tier parties returning from the forest recently mentioned that monster distribution along the fringe is much the same as before, with no anomalies. However, a mid-tier party that penetrated deep into the north hasn't returned yet."
"Which party?"
"A party named 'Silver Vine.' Three people, all Fourth-Tier."
"They accepted the fifty-gold-coin reconnaissance task and headed north into the forest. They've been gone for five days now."
Sevein tapped his fingers against the tabletop. "Five days... Do you know how long they originally planned to be out?"
"Three days. I asked a tavern owner who knows them fairly well."
A moment of silence followed.
"Have the guild notify me as soon as they hear anything," Sevein said.
"Also, if they haven't returned after three more days, I will consider sending another team out. Perhaps they really did run into what we are looking for."
"Understood."
...
Meanwhile, in the southwestern corner of the Whispering Forest.
Kael was doing something he had never done before: using the "Mage Hand" cantrip to control an ink pen and make markings on a map.
These were all spoils captured from the adventurer party that had previously trespassed into the dormant volcano.
The layout of hunting grounds, the general locations of goblin and kobold territories, the speculated activity zones of the gnolls, and the locations where adventurers had been spotted recently—
he marked all the information gathered from Grok, the old priest, and his own scouting onto this map.
Nora leaned over to look for a moment, her amber dragon pupils filled with curiosity.
"Kael, what is this?"
"A map." Without looking up, Kael continued marking. "Having this map when we go out hunting or doing chores in the future is much better than running around blindly."
"Map..." Nora repeated the word softly, seemingly searching her draconic heritage for the concept.
"Before humans fight wars, they always draw maps first," Kael explained.
"Only by knowing where your enemies are and where you are can you judge how to fight, or whether you should fight at all."
"Enemies?" Nora tilted her head. "Who are our enemies?"
Kael's claw paused for a second.
"None for now," he said. "But that doesn't mean there won't be any in the future."
He gazed at the location marked for gnoll activity on the map, a trace of gravity flashing through his golden vertical pupils.
Still, this map was indeed quite small, containing detailed information only for Emberfire City's surroundings and the fringe of the Whispering Forest; everything else, including other cities and kingdoms, consisted of only vague descriptions.
Among the intelligence Grok had brought last time, one detail nagged at him: that mid-tier adventurer party penetrating deep into the northern forest still hadn't come out.
If they had gotten lost, that would be manageable. But if they had run into gnolls...
Kael had previously browsed records about gnolls in his draconic heritage. By nature, this race was greedy and brutal, subscribing to the law of the jungle. Moreover, they possessed a trait that gave all neighboring races headaches: holding grudges.
If adventurers barged into gnoll territory and were killed or captured, the gnolls would likely perceive it as human provocation.
As for the human side, if a mid-tier adventurer party went missing, they would assume the forest harbored danger and send even more people in.
Once both sides locked horns, the Whispering Forest would become a battlefield.
Battlefields knew no compass directions. When stray arrows started flying, who could guarantee one wouldn't fly straight toward the dormant volcano?
"I need to figure out a way," Kael muttered to himself.
After thinking for a moment, he summoned the old priest again.
"Grisnak, let me ask you something," Kael said, lying flat on a boulder by the riverbank as he looked at the hunched old goblin priest before him.
"Is there anyone you know in the gnoll tribe?"
The old priest froze for a second. "My lord, we and the gnolls... have never interacted. They look down on goblins, and we stay out of their way."
"Not even a single one?"
"Well..." The old priest hesitated.
"When I was young, I was gathering herbs in the northern forest and ran into a lone gnoll cub."
"It was injured, so I applied some herbal medicine to its wounds. Later, after that gnoll grew up, I occasionally ran into it along the forest fringe. You could consider it... half an acquaintance. But that was many years ago."
"Is it still in the tribe?"
"I am not sure. The last time I saw it was three years ago."
"It said an 'adult' had arrived in their tribe and taught them some new things."
"New things?" Kael's vertical pupils narrowed slightly. "What things?"
"It didn't elaborate. But when it mentioned the words 'altar' and 'ritual,' its expression..." The old priest rubbed his hands together.
"I have lived for over fifty years and seen many faces of fear. But its expression that day didn't look like fear—it was more like... fanaticism."
Kael went silent for a long time.
"Altars, rituals, fanaticism." He chewed on those three words in his mind, and after searching through the information recorded in his draconic heritage, a guess formed in his head.
In Western fantasy worlds, the ones permanently occupying the villain seats were almost always either demons or evil gods.
Yet there was a difference between the two.
Demons, creatures from the Abyss, specialized in one-on-one soul bargains. They enticed other living beings who called their true names into signing demonic contracts filled with word traps, harvesting their souls after death.
Their usual line was: Whatever you want, I can give you, but your soul belongs to me after death.
Evil gods, entities from the outer void, or perhaps ancient gods, relied fundamentally on proselytizing and gathering the faith of believers. This faith nourished the evil god's true body—the more believers they had and the more fanatical their faith, the stronger the evil god became. Of course, sacrificing other living beings to an evil god through rituals could also bolster faith and potentially earn rewards from them.
Their usual line was: Believe in me, worship me, and you shall receive my protection for eternity and gain endless power.
What he lacked now was tangible evidence.
"Grisnak, can you find a way to get in touch with that gnoll?"
A troubled look appeared on the old priest's face. "My lord, this... the distance is too far, and the gnoll tribe is heavily guarded right now. For an old Fourth-Tier fellow like me to recklessly draw near, I fear..."
"You don't need to get close," Kael said.
"You can leave some signals at the place where you used to meet. If that gnoll still remembers you, it will come. If it doesn't, then let it be."
He paused, then added a sentence: "Stay safe. If you spot anything amiss, retreat immediately. To me, you are far more important than that piece of news."
The old priest's eyes turned slightly red, and he gave a heavy nod. "I understand."
...
Three days later, Grok brought new intelligence.
Another mid-tier adventurer party from Emberfire City had entered the northern forest, this time also consisting of three people. As for their detailed tiers, the goblins had followed Grok's orders and refrained from approaching to inspect.
"Looks like this forest is about to fall into chaos."
And chaos, for the dragon lair, was both a cover and a threat.
"Grok, go back and tell the old priest to hurry up with reaching out to that gnoll. I want to confirm what those gnolls are actually up to."
"Yes, sir!"
After Grok left, Kael lay alone on the riverbank for a long time.
He gazed at the stars in the sky, calculating various possibilities in his mind.
"If the Whispering Forest really turns into a battlefield..." he muttered under his breath.
"Then I must at least ensure the battlefield doesn't spread over to the dormant volcano."
The dragon mother's aura kept Mid-Tier and lower magical beasts from daring to approach the dragon lair, but if it were a High-Tier gnoll chieftain or a human High-Tier practitioner...
then the aura's deterrent effect would be put into question.
"I need to accelerate my growth," Kael sighed. "Relying solely on Third-Tier strength isn't enough."
He looked up at the starry sky, his golden dragon pupils reflecting the sea of stars.
"Starry sky, when I advance next time, please grant me a useful talent."
As if in answer to his prayer, a shooting star streaked across the night sky, trailing a long tail of light before vanishing at the edge of the forest.
Rate on N.U.
